A Familiar Acquaintance
by Felix02
Summary: He was her father's friend, but could he be something more? KakaSaku. AU-ish.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

Note: This is not an AU story completely, the only difference is that Sakura is not a ninja in this story and all the others are. And also, this story is not going to be that long so don't worry, it won't interfere with my other story, The Pleasant Hour.

_He was her father's friend, but could he be something more? Kaka/Saku. Not AU._

**A Familiar Acquaintance  
****1 of 3**

He asked her out for coffee and she asked why.

He was handsome despite the black mask covering most of his face, but she could see his high, aristocratic cheek bones, the chiseled jaw line, and a strong Roman nose. Why he wore a mask Sakura neither knew nor asked because she contented herself by just being in his presence. He, the silver haired jounin, called himself an old friend of her father's, and since her father had been a jounin, she was inclined to believe the masked man.

Kakashi - the name rolled off her tongue. Copy-nin people called him, others legendary, his strength and power renowned to all shinobi nations. Yet Sakura only knew him as comfort, an asylum even. He made her laugh when she wanted to cry.

Before her beloved father's death, Sakura had rarely seen the silver haired, masked man. She knew him by her father's words, by his praise for the younger man, but she had never met him and she had ever asked to meet him. He came to her. Always came to her and asked her out for coffee.

When she was with him, she did not have to live in the memories of her father's memorial, the way the Hokage placed a warm hand on her shoulder, a tight smile on her face, and her soft, feminine words of, "He died for Konoha...for you, Sakura."

Sometimes she did not care what he died for; it no longer mattered; her heart was too cold, too empty. Her father, her beautiful father, had been hers and she his; best friends, father and daughter, confidants. So much more than simple blood which would only disappear with time, sucked in by the dirty earth never to be seen again. But despite her pain, Sakura mustered the courage to smile at his funeral, and since that day she never cried.

That day Kakashi first spoke to her with downcast eyes, a hand behind his mess of silver hair, and an ever lazy voice.

He asked her out for coffee, she asked why.

He shrugged saying, "I feel responsible for taking care of you, I guess."

Sakura answered plainly, "I can take care of myself."

"Yeah but I want to." He said with dark brown eyes no longer downcast but intense.

"I don't know you and you don't know me." She reasoned with a flick of her hand.

Kakashi shook his head. "I know you, though; your father talked about you all the time." He smiled. "Said you were the smartest girl in Konoha."

Sakura nodded apathetically looking away from the tall jounin before her, her gaze on the memorial stone. A young, blond haired man in an orange outfit rubbed his eyes and shouted at a darker haired man next to him. The later remained quite and Sakura realized who the two young men were. Her father talked about them as well: Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi's students.

"So," Sakura stated. "Does that mean everyone who knows that you're Copy-nin Kakashi knows you personally?"

He never paused to answer, only rubbed the back of his neck more, his visible eye creasing in the corner - a tell-tale sign of a smile. "There isn't much to know about me."

She gave him a wayward glance. "I think you're lying."

"Then take up my offer and join me for coffee."

A smile slowly stole over Sakura's lips as she shook her head. "No, I'm afraid that I have to pass that offer up, Hatake-san."

"Kakashi." She must have looked confused. "Call me Kakashi."

Again Sakura shook her head. His brown eyes took on a lazy look again. "Hatake-san," Sakura touched his arm, "you owe my father nothing. Do not feel obligated to watch over me."

"Who ever said I owed him anything?" He replied, a slight frown on his face.

Sakura sighed, her mind trying to understand what the legendary jounin wanted. "You're a bad liar, Hatake-san."

He positioned himself into a thoughtful pose, one arm across his green vest as the other propped up on it, his fingers below his chin. "Really," his intense, lazy voice drawled out, "you're the first to think that. I thought I was a rather good liar."

Sakura laughed a little seeing his eye crinkle in the corner because of a smile. Then the blond haired man stood behind Kakashi, a sad smile on his face; on his other side stood the silent, dark haired man, emotionless on the outside.

"Kakashi, Sasuke and I will meet you at the ramen stand later." His voice was strangely detached. Usually when Sakura had seen him his voice carried for miles. Today he was subdued. He noticed her and green eyes met blue and she was lost in them, reaching in them, feeling a bond form, and suddenly she felt as if she knew the blond haired man before her, knew him her whole life.

"Hey! You're Sakura."

"Good job pointing out the obvious, dobe." The other, Sasuke, noted in monotone.

"Shut-up, Sasuke!" He turned his attention back to her. "Don't let Sasuke bother you, Sakura-chan."

She wanted to laugh again. The honorific would usually conjure her anger, but when Naruto said it she only felt peace. "I think I should be saying that to you, Naruto."

"Hey! You know me," his eyes widened in astonishment at her mention of his name. She nodded in confirmation. "Cool."

"And you're Sasuke." Sakura said to the handsome, silent man who nodded once in greeting. "And you're both his students, right?" She said motioning to Kakashi. He was smiling slightly.

"Yeah, we're the pervert's former students." Sakura gazed over to Kakashi. He did not deny the accusation, and she could only wander what Naruto meant. "Well, Sakura-chan, I've got to jet. I'm super hungry."

He looked at Kakashi slapping him on the shoulder, "Later, Kakashi." And then both Naruto and Sasuke disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"How about that coffee?" Kakashi persisted. She shook her head unwilling to look at the masked jounin. Her green orbs stared at a new name on the onyx memorial stone, Haruno Takashi, her beloved father and friend. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and in the next moment shrugged off the comfort Kakashi offered. She never liked pity.

She smiled serenely up to him. "I'll be fine, Hatake-san, really. Death is apart of life, is it not?"

He nodded his intense brown eyes on her. "I've always known my father would die, but I never expected to feel this empty." She touched her heart, "I don't even feel pain only numbness. But maybe pain will come in time, maybe right now I haven't come to terms with what I have truly lost, and maybe I'll never feel pain for his death. Who can tell, Hatake-san, who can tell...?"

She felt that he was going to say something, but she shook her head. Pink tresses came lose from her braid tickling her face and flowing into her mouth only to be pulled behind her ear by his warm fingers. She smiled up in his eyes and said, "Goodbye, Hatake-san. I'll see you later."

She walked a few steps away when his hand took her wrist in his palm. "Is that an invitation?" He asked tonelessly.

Sakura shrugged. "Take it as you like, Hatake-san."

"Kakashi," he repeated.

"Hatake-san," she repeated and with a smile voice. "You're my senior by fourteen years - you're thirty-four, correct?" He nodded. "You see, it's only proper."

And without waiting for his answer, she walked away, back home, alone.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

On the next day, he knocked on her door and asked her out for coffee and she asked why.

"I feel responsible for you I guess." The same answer as yesterday. Sakura smiled tiredly.

"You know what time it is?"

"Seven in the morning, the perfect time for coffee," he replied with a smile in his voice.

Sakura answered just as quickly. "The perfect time for sleep as well, Hatake-san."

She viewed a mischievous glint in his eye that signaled a joke. "Only if I can join you."

She laughed then, louder than she had in a long time, until her sides hurt in mirth. He placed on a hurt look, but she ignored it and closed the door in his face. He knocked again and she opened it, laughing.

"That's not nice," he said, his intense eyes on her. "Don't shut me out, Sakura."

She stopped laughing and apologized unsure about his statement. _Don't shut him out..._in what context? His hands were in his pant pockets, his form sloughing handsomely, and his eye regarded the den of her house. His clothes dripped water, as did his silver hair, and Sakura was confused by the sight he created until she heard the rumbles in the sky. It was raining. How strange of her not to notice sooner.

"I didn't notice it was raining." She ventured to say picking at the loose strands of her long sleeved shirt, a treasure stolen from her father's room six years earlier. She loved the smell of her father but never could describe it; he was clean, fresh, dewy almost. The scent, she loved her father's scent.

Kakashi stared at her, his eyes unreadable. "Neither did I."

For some unknown reason, Sakura felt her cheeks heat up finding herself rather warm. A couple of moments passed with the two of them staring at one another until Sakura coughed. "You don't have to check up on me, Hatake-san. I told you I would be fine."

"Who said I was checking up on you?"

Sakura glared, "Then why else would you be here?"

He sighed pulling his hands from his pockets and straightening up. "To ask you out for coffee of course, why else?"

"Try another line," Sakura said in a yawn popping her fingers in one motion.

"How about if I order you to come with me?" She offered him a cat-like smile that made Kakashi laugh. "How about if I dragged you, pajamas and all?"

"I guess you want to die then."

Kakashi threw his head back in a masculine laugh once more. "Can you? Kill me, that is."

Sakura shrugged walking off to the kitchen, Kakashi right behind her. "My father always said I can do anything if I put my mind to it."

"Wise man your father," Kakashi said in a reverent tone. Sakura furtively glance at him seeing his brown, intense eyes dull for a moment, and she could not stop the warmth that spread over her heart.

"You loved my father didn't you?"

"Like my own," Kakashi replied truthfully.

Sakura hummed to herself, a snicker in her throat. "I knew you were a liar, Hatake-san. I just knew it."

Kakashi sat himself on a bar stood, his head held up lazily by one hand and an elbow on the counter. "How so?"

"You said there wasn't much to know about you," Sakura looked over to him. "That's a lie. Everyone has a story even plain me."

Kakashi shrugged. "There isn't a lot to know about me, Sakura; I don't like tempura, I read _Icha Icha Paradise_, I'm a shinobi of Fire Country, and I would really love to hear your story."

Sakura blanched. "_Icha Icha Paradise_, huh? No wonder Naruto called you a pervert. I'm not surprised my father left that tid-bit out." She shook her head as if ridding herself of a thought. "And my story is nothing of consequence."

"Nevertheless, I would like to hear it."

Sakura rolled her eyes. If she did not know better she would say Hatake Kakashi, one of the strongest nin in all of the shinobi nations, was flirting with plain, regular, ordinary her. "Fine, here it goes. I like, no, _love_ tempura, I don't read Icha Icha Paradise, I'm not a shinobi but a citizen of Fire Country, and that's my story."

Kakashi was silent. Sakura grabbed a fist full of hair and pulled it back with a purple hair tie flashing a grin at the jounin in her kitchen. "You mock me, Sakura."

"Maybe," she stuck her tongue out, "just a little." He sighed drumming his fingers on the countertop. She looked at the clock hearing its ticking hands nearing the time that her alarm was set for. She had work unlike some jounin in the vicinity.

"I think you should go. I have work in forty minutes."

"Where?" He asked coming closer to her. Sakura's breath hitched for a time, but she settled it.

"You don't have to walk me there, I'll be fine."

"Where?" He asked again, closer, almost touching her back.

She shifted away from his warmth and shook her head. "You have your mask, Hatake-san, let me have my work."

"Fair enough," he said lifting his arms in defeat. "You win."

"I always do."

Then, without warning, he came closer to her and lowered his face near her ear and said, "We'll have to work on that then."

After that he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Sakura smirked. She did not like losing.

**A/N:** I know I'm doing my other story, _The Pleasant Hour_, but don't worry this story is almost done. I originally planned it to be a one-shot, but after writing it I decided to make it a bit longer. There is much to write after this, maybe another two chapters. And sorry for the grammar, I was trying a new way of writing in a way.

Anyway, thank you for reading.

**-Felix02 **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews!

As a note, I was going to make Sakura leave for two months because of her job, but I decided not to. Just thought you might like to know that little tid-bit. And also, this chapter will be going along **_fast_.** Keep in mind this is only a three chapter story. Though it might change to four chapters, I don't know yet.

_He was her father's friend but could he be something more? Kaka/Saku. Not AU._

**A Familiar Acquaintance  
****2 of 3**

A month ago, a game began between Kakashi and herself, one that included avoiding the legendary Jounin at all cost. It worked. Sometimes. But most always he found her and asked her out for coffee which she would then respond with her ever strong _why_. It was tiring yet exhilarating having the Jounin follow her, a great distraction from the normality of her previous life.

"Yo, Sakura."

Sighing and smiling she responded, "Hello, Hatake-san."

The silver haired Jounin frowned a bit. "Tired?"

"You found me," Sakura stated slinging her work purse over her shoulder. He stood by her offering to hold it. Sakura merely shook her head. She could handle a simple bag. Really it wasn't that difficult.

"Trying to avoid me again, Sakura?" He asked, his tone blank, his face more so. Seems he'd caught on.

She shrugged giving him a furtive glance. "Maybe, then again I'm way too tired."

"I can carry you." It was his normal suggestion, so very copy-nin'ish of him. His eye crinkled in a smile, and Sakura laughed.

"I'm not that tired, Hatake-san."

A moment of silence passed as they walked down the street together, a slight breeze playing across their bodies. Sakura dipped her head back to feel the warmth on the sun on her face. It calmed her, relaxed her, and she loved it.

"Why do you always try to avoid me?" Sakura blinked looking towards her walking companion confusion in her eyes. His stance proved nothing; it was the same handsome, lazily slouch with his hands hidden in his pockets. Sakura loved his position, it too calmed her.

With pursed lips, she answered, "I don't avoid you."

A lie. He knew it as well, but she could not bring herself to care. His attentions though not horrible were just slightly uncomfortable. Never had she been the girl who was approached by the male sex, that was Ino's area. To be honest, she was unnerved by the Copy-nins attentions, but at the same time could not yield the growing feeling of bubbliness inside her heart.

She wanted to see him. Wanted to hid from him. And most of all want him to chase her. Her silly, vain thoughts disappointed her. She always cherished her independence, and her growing dependence on the handsome, white haired shinobi rubbed on her nerves. And so the question remained: What in dear heavens was wrong with her?

"You are a bad liar, Sakura." His voice was both firm and plain, almost a little angry.

She shrugged. "Is that good or bad?"

"I don't know, you tell me."

"I have no idea then, Hatake-san."

She laughed at him knowing just beneath his emotionless, bored surface annoyance and anger brewed. Over the past month, she had come to enjoy making him furious with her actions considering it payback for her growing dependence on him, but Sakura had yet to see him blow his carefully molded facade. Clearly a big disappointment.

"There is a cafe around the corner," a smile tugged at his one visible eye. "Want to join me for some coffee? - my treat, of course."

Sakura shook her head letting lose pink strands of hair before pulling them back behind her ears. "No thanks, Hatake-san. I have other plans."

Placing his hands into his pockets, Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Oh, mind if I ask what they are?"

"Nothing really exciting," Sakura waved her hand in a dismissive fashion. "Just a date with a fellow co-worker." She gauged his expression from her peripheral vision but concluded nothing. If anything Kakashi seemed more bored than before. He pulled out an orange book and she stifled her laughter.

"You know, Hatake-san, he asked me out for coffee too." She waited for a response - there was none, but he did glance furtively in her direction. Sakura was almost tempted to call the motion cute in a strange type of way.

"And I said yes."

He stopped and she along with him and stared at him. "Did you now?" He asked his voice monotone, but a moment later a deep laugh flowed from his masked face. "If I didn't know better, Sakura, I would think that you're trying to make me jealous."

She smiled sweetly back. "Oh no, Hatake-san, I would never do such a thing, because that would mean you would have to actually like me in that sense to be jealous. And," Sakura waved a finger, "as you say, you only come to check up on me."

"To which you always say, 'I don't need to be checked up on.'"

"Because it's true."

Kakashi smiled in response before looking back down at his risqué novel. Sakura held the urge to roll her eyes. The nerve of some shinobi was amazing, and she was glad that she would never have to marry one. She glanced at Kakashi, his slouched form pacing slowly next to hers, silver hair shinning in the sun, and sighed closing her eyes.

Well, hopefully she would not fall for one. That future though was growing very thin.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Slinging her heels onto her counter, Sakura did not even try to repress her growl. As much as she loved her work, there were times when she wished to strangle her boss and risk being exiled from Fire Country. And on the matter of her heels, well, she hated them just as much as her boss if not more.

Tossing her head to the side, and after falling on her couch, Sakura locked her eyes onto the clock noting that it was twenty after eight. Her boss equaled slave-driver. For the hours she was pulling he should make her his boss, God knows that she did the only work around the office with the exception of a few scant others who she barely had contact with.

Her mood was bad, no, murderous. She felt as though she could take on five S-class criminals with ease. _Bring em' on_, her inner self screeched. Sakura laughed to herself releasing some pent up energy. She wished that she had bought that punching bag when it was on sale three months ago. Why hadn't she listened to her conscious then?

Walking into her room she began the process of changing her work cloths when the door bell rang. Her top was off exposing her white bra and so the only item of clothing her had on her was a slim-cut, gray business skirt. Slipping on a baggy shirt, Sakura cursed whoever rang her doorbell and was going to give whoever it was, S-class criminal or not, a piece of her mind and frustration when she swung open the door, her lips ready to curse, when she had a glimpse of Kakashi. Her mouth closed for an instant, and if she had had the chance to say something it would have been along the lines of, _"No, I don't feel like coffee right now," _yet sadly she never had the chance to because his lips closed around her own.

Like a man starving, Kakashi cupped the back of her head and pulled her length against his own. Sakura's eye were wide and she tried to struggle away from him but felt herself slowly becoming intoxicated by the warmth and pull of his lips against her own. The hand on the back of her head, his other hand placed gently across her cheek drew her into his spell, and Sakura felt her eyes close.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that she should be pushing him away. He was her father's friend. He should only be her friend. He was a ninja and she didn't want a ninja as anybody but a friend. Yet she yearned for this legendary ninja and hated herself for it...for reasons she could not understand.

Instinctively, Sakura pulled him close to herself, her arms wrapping around his back, moving up to his shoulder blades to hold him. Somewhere during the course of his kisses he had taken off his mask, but she did not look feeling no need to. His kisses were not gentle, but hungry and willing, devouring and all consuming and utterly wonderful. She had never been kissed by a man as he kissed her. A guttural moan escape from the base of her throat and her eyes snapped open...

...and reality came crashing in.

She was kissing Kakashi...Hatake-san...

...and he kissed her without permission...

...and she liked, no, loved it...loved him.

_No. **No!**_

Suddenly, she found the strength to push him away from herself. She didn't dare look at him. Instead she lowered her gaze to her hands still able to feel the warmth and muscles of his toned back. She had always found a man's back attractive. It was something about the strength of a man's back that let her see the burdens and problems he carried and how he carried them. Kakashi's back felt strong, able, and beautifully structured.

"Sakura," he sounded exquisitely breathless. Sakura fiddle with her fingers her own breathing muted and quite. She should be angry at his impertinence. She should strike him. But frustratingly, infuriatingly she felt not the anger she should have felt, and it was that in itself that irritated her.

Her hands started to shake. His own strong, hands come into view and tried to catch a hold of her but she back away. No, she wasn't ready for him to touch her; she was too vulnerable, too in love to resist him.

She was stupid and foolish. How had she fallen in love with a man, a shinobi of all people, in one month's time. She barely knew him and yet she loved him. Nothing made sense anymore, not since he walked into her life. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

He stepped back as quickly as he came, remorse in his masked voice. "I'm sorry, Sakura. I never-"

She snapped her head up and placed a quick smile on as her chest tightened. She didn't want his apologies; the fault for her feelings was not his directly. It wasn't his fault that she found him beautifully, perfectly flawed and precious. "Hatake-san, don't say that. Please don't say that."

Sakura found herself avoiding his eye unwilling to see any expression that might be on his face. She walked towards the door and stood silently for a moment. She felt his eyes bore into her back, felt the tenseness of the situation around them, and wished with all her might that he would not do anything to touch her. The flesh was weak, hers especially where Hatake Kakashi was involved.

"Still with the Hatake-san," he voiced moving closer towards the door. "Maybe I should go." His shoulders were straight and his voice firm letting no emotion out.

Oh, how her heart ached when he said that. What a paradox her heart and mind were to one another. What was wrong with her?

Nonetheless, Sakura was logical if anything and she found herself agreeing. "Yes, I think that would be best."

He left in a cloud of smoke and a little pop.

And Sakura was left alone, a dull throb and yearning in her heart.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Ino smile mischievously leaning over the counter. "Why don't you marry him?"

"Kakashi?" Sakura asked innocently.

"Who else, idiot - Gai?"

An image of a green outfitted man, hyper and flamboyant, sprung to her mind and she couldn't repress a smirk. Ino took her out to a bar two weeks ago where she had intentionally run into Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and numerous other shinobi. Kakashi had been by her side the entire night and offered to walk her home, a kind offer she declined.

Sakura sighed, "I barely know him, Ino, and he barely knows me."

"And your point is...?"

Sakura shut her mouth placing her head on the counter. "It's too fast, Ino...way too fast."

"Then marry the guy and make it stop." To Ino the solution was obvious. For Sakura, it was life changing.

"Ino," Sakura raised her voice a little, "Kakashi is fourteen years my senior."

"I always thought you needed a more mature guy," Ino's blond head nodded. "Yes, Kakashi will be perfect for you."

"I've only known him for one month."

"And you love him, you told me yourself." Ino stated as she locked up pulling Sakura out of the store with her. A sun lowered in the horizon, visible above the peaks of the surrounding mountains. A few citizens were strolling about, but Sakura did not take notice. Ino was not helping her to snap out of her dream-like opinions about Kakashi.

When Sakura did not respond, Ino took it upon herself to expound on the conversation. The woman didn't know when to drop a subject. "And since you love him, I think you should marry him."

Sakura snorted finding the unlady like reaction a catharsis of sorts. "So much for the supportive aspect to friendship." Sakura said throwing her hands up in the air. "Aren't you suppose talk me out of loving Kakashi, tell me I'm being silly and romantic? Besides the man didn't even purpose."

Ino shook a delicate finger. "I am supportive of you, and what's best for you is..."

"You think a man can make me happy?" Sakura stated with an angry glare. "That's just about the most stero..."

Ino tsked over her. "I never said that, Sakura. Listen to me. If you marry Kakashi, a great shinobi I might add, you'll be wonderfully happy, and that my dear, Sakura, is supportive of you."

"I don't need a man to make me happy. In fact, I'm perfectly happy right now."

Ino rolled her eyes at her pink haired friend and patted her shoulder as they came to a crossway. "You love him, don't you?" Her voice turned serious, and Sakura blushed.

Did she love him? Truly? Only one month had passed...could she? Her hearted pounded in its cage and a smile blossomed on her face as she thought of the white-haired shinobi. He was noble, kind and gentle, handsome and comical, mysterious and so much more than she could ever say. Her heart skipped a beat. She should take a chance, shouldn't she?

"Yes," Sakura admited outloud both to herself and Ino.

"See," Ino explained. "Take a chance with, Hatake. I'm sure he'll be worth your wild."

"So I don't have to marry him, then?" Sakura ventured to ask, a smile on her lips.

"I never said that." Ino turned to the right and started walking down the street. "Mark my words, Sakura, you'll be married by the end of the year."

And Sakura didn't know whether feel excalted or dread at that statement.

**A/N:** Yes, I know - a short chapter. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the grammar mistakes, but don't worry more chapters will come out soon. I don't know if I'll be able to finish this story by the next chapter, I may have to expand it to four chapters. Anyway, thanks for all your support! I'm truly grateful to all of those who reviewed.

_Felix02_


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

Thank you for all your wonderful reviews! As suspected, there will be an epilogue (another chapter basically). I went back to fix some dire grammar mistakes in the past chapters, just to let ya'll know. Well, hopefully I fixed them. This chapter most likely will be fast pace, especially in the romantic aspect, because of the limited number of chapters I have placed on myself. I will try to make it as enjoyable as possible. I mean who really wants a long, long romantic fic anyway?

/runs and hides because of her own long, or planning to be long, Kaka/Saku fics/

_He was her father's friend but could he be something more? Kaka/Saku. Not AU._

**A Familiar Acquaintance  
****3 of 3**

Three days had passed since she'd last since Kakashi. Two days since Ino basically told her to marry the legendary shinobi and started picking out wedding designs. Really, the girl was too much to handle at times of stress, be it emotional or physical. Sakura remembered back when they were teens and Ino made her a dynamic conditioning schedule. Her reason: she wanted Sakura to maintain a high metabolism saying that she would thank her one day when she was older.

Well, she was older and still couldn't thank her.

"Sakura-chan!" Someone yelled from behind her throwing an orange-clad arm over her shoulder and laughing. "How've you been? Haven't seen you in a couple of days."

"Dobe," another man's voice stated calmly. "She was probably avoiding you."

"Shut the hell up, Sasuke." Naruto bellowed smiling back down at his pink haired friend. "Don't mind him, Sakura-chan, he's only jealous of my superiority."

Sakura rolled her eyes as the two men she had come to know bickered like the two old ladies who taken care of her when she was younger. Naruto and Sasuke, as she had come to know, had a competition going on between them ever since their youth. And while Naruto lost considerably in looks against his dark haired, brooding friend, he sported a great deal of spunk and ability to make friends. There was a bright, red flame around Naruto that drew people in like moths to light. It was a love for life that made people want to be around him even if he could be annoying, as some people put, at times.

Sasuke was different. Popular amongst the women of Konoha, he held nothing of the animation that his blond, hyper friend created around him. He was the mysterious one, the one people tried to reach out and help though he would take nothing of their kindness...or pity as he knew it. Yet despite the coldness in his eyes, there was warmth in them as well. Those he was close with, he protected with a fierce loyalty in fear of loss. When he deemed it proper, he was kind in a silent way. Unlike Naruto who wished to help the world and its problems at once, Sasuke preferred to take it a piece at a time with slow precision. It was as if he stayed behind to pick up his friend's mess that he always left behind - another loveable, annoying trait Naruto sported.

Sakura came to love them both dearly as brothers. It seemed as if the three had meant to be though Sasuke would always deny it.

"Oh, Sakura-chan?" Naruto turned to her with his eyes closed scratching his cheek. "What did you do to Kakashi?"

Sakura stumbled and chocked simultaneously looking from Naruto to Sasuke and then back again. Her mind went blank. She did something? If anyone had done something it had been Kakashi. She wasn't the one who incited a very...pleasant kiss.

"I don't understand." Sakura answered with a smile readjusting her bag.

Sasuke spoke up this time. "Dobe over here thinks Kakashi has been acting..." He was silent for a moment before continuing. "More aloof then usual."

Sakura blinked again. Naruto looked anxious to get an answer. Sasuke looked like he just wanted to go.

"Why do you think I did something?" She asked pointing at herself. Why was she always the first to be chosen in the blame game? For heaven's sake, she hadn't seen the man in three days, and if he was acting aloof well that was usual, right?

"Because Ino told Shikamaru who told Naruto...it just goes on from there." Sasuke said uninterested. "So Naruto assumed that you did something."

Sakura clenched her hands together wishing to draw blood. Damn that Ino! She could never keep a secret in her life. A migraine was coming, Sakura felt its fingers wrapping around her cerebral cortex. Placing two fingers to each temple, Sakura looked at both men and sighed.

"How much do you know?"

Naruto crossed his arms. "Shikamaru told me that Ino was blabbing on about weddings?" He laughed. "Does that mean you're going to marry Kakashi, Sakura?"

"No!" Sakura exclaimed before blushing and lowering her voice. "Really, nothing of consequence happened." She laughed nervously as two sets of eyes regarded her.

"Then why is Kakashi acting..."

"Mid-life crisis?" Sakura blurted out before covering her mouth. Sasuke smirked and Naruto laughed. "But that can't be since he isn't even forty yet, but they say ninja's do age faster than regular citizens because of stress on the mind and body, and..." She was rambling; she knew it but couldn't stop her mouth from forming words. She really hated being nervous...really hated it.

Naruto didn't seem to mind at all. He just stood looking at her and nodding his head seriously as if he were taking notes on what she was saying. Sasuke slowly placed a hand on her mouth successfully silencing her.

"Sorry." Sakura offered laughing at the same time. "And just so you know, I haven't seen or talked with Kakashi in three days."

"Maybe he's planning something." Sasuke offered cryptically before telling Naruto that he would beat his sorry ass the next morning and heading off to an unknown location. Naruto cursed back before bringing Sakura closer to his chest with his one arm around her shoulders.

"Just be gentle on Kakashi, Sakura. He really is a big baby." Naruto laughed at his own joke before saluting her and jumping off in the opposite direction Sasuke headed off to.

The sun was sinking into the western sky littering the city with strips of orange red. A warm breeze played across her face as Sakura walked to a nearby alcove and sunk into a wooden bench. The alcove was meant for pedestrians who wanted to take coverage from the midday heat. It was a rare beauty filled with plants and a little trail heading towards where the bench sat; one tree offered solace from the sun, but for the twilight period of the day, it was more haunting than helpful, but Sakura loved it.

She needed to rest, not to mention think of the conversation that just passed. Kakashi was acting weird basically. Did she really do something? Was he disgusted that he kissed her? Was that why he was now avoiding her? Confusion soon melted into anger. What the hell was his problem? He could at least have the decency to tell her that they couldn't be friends! He was the one who initiated the kiss - he should be the one to pay for doing it, not her. Argh! Men were such a nuisance. More confusing then any woman she had ever met.

"Mid-life crisis, Sakura?" A masculine voice drifted on the wind.

Sakura tensed and looked up only to see Kakashi standing against a brick wall reading an _Icha Icha_ novel. He never glanced towards her as he sat next to her on the bench effectively taking up most of the seat. He probably did it on purpose, Sakura mused seeing how she had to move over a bit to sit comfortably.

"And you said my first name," he pointed out flipping a page with his thumb.

Sakura gulped nervous once again. He was far too close, his voice far too deep and smooth for her to think rationally. Here was a man who kissed her and left her for three days. Not that she searched him out or anything, but that was despite the point. The point was that he was now looking at her with an intense, brown eye as if she were the only person in the world.

He scooted closer again and her breath hitched, but his visible eye was no longer on her because it was back on his novel. Sakura thanked God for that much. At least now she could gather some of her bearings back from his sudden appearance.

"Did I say your name, Hatake-san?" Sakura asked trying to find a way to escape.

It was an impossible task though since he immediately placed his novel down and cupped her cheek in his hand. His eye was that intense brown once again which made her heart flutter with sensation. Sakura managed to smile a little. _Keep face_, she told herself.

"Sakura," he said in a warning tone. "Stop playing around. My name is Kakashi not Hatake-san."

She tried to laugh - it came out as a pitiful squeak. "I know that. I'm not stupid, Hatake-san."

When nervous, play it off. It was her motto, but Kakashi didn't seem to be enthralled by her method as she. His hand moved from her cheek to her hair brushing back pink locks that had messed with her face before. Sakura held back the urge to sigh in contentment. If felt so good; she had always loved it when her mother use to stroke her hair in effort to make her fall asleep. Sakura did not think it would be a wise decision to fall asleep here, next to Kakashi. Not that he would do anything inappropriate, but she couldn't show him that weakness of hers. It could be used against her.

"Sakura," his mouth whispered against the shell of her ear. She shivered. He smiled and for the first time Sakura noticed that he'd taken off his mask.

Eyes wide, she pulled back slightly to look at him and her mouth dropped. He did not hold the appearance of a late thirty year old but of a young man in his late twenties. He was a different type of handsome than Sasuke was, stone and perfect structure; Kakashi was something more, something delicate yet harsh, a man holding strict features and soft smiles. His nose was perfect, god-like, and his mouth was a little thin yet Sakura could care less. That mouth had done wonders for her, both physically and mentally.

Her eyes roamed his handsome face only to stop at a vertical scar that traced down his left eye to his cheek, and Sakura noted to ask about it later. Father once told her that scars were both painful and precious to their holders. Sakura kept that in mind and heart. Her eyes went back to his lips and she felt a small blush form when he pulled her towards him again.

Kakashi did not smile as he looked down at her, his hand moving back towards her cheek. God, he was devastatingly handsome; Sakura could hardly believe her eyes. This man kissed her! Plain and normal her of all people, disappeared for three days, suddenly showed back out of the blue, and probably eavesdropped on her conversation earlier with Naruto and Sasuke. She should be furious at him, slap him or punch him, but she could hardly muster the strength to breathe much less talk.

"You're just waiting for me to kiss you aren't you, little one?" And before she could answer, his lips were on hers and Sakura wrapped her arms around him.

She felt sinful and utterly wanted. His lips roamed hungrily against her own asking for permission to enter her, and she complied - a little fearfully - but he remained gentle while retaining his own hunger. She moaned against him as he pulled her close to himself, their position awkward because they were sitting on a bench in a public alcove. Thankfully, no one was out on the street. And then as suddenly as it began, Kakashi pulled away breathing heavily with his eyes trained firmly on her.

"Marry me." He said hoarsely. There was no question, so like him, Sakura thought in the mess of her emotions.

Her heart constricted in fear, excitement, and confusion. "Why?"

It came out wrong, but Kakashi didn't seem the least put off by it. She loved him, but he never said he loved her, it could only be assumed, and Sakura did not like assuming anything, especially things that had to do with her. What if this was just so ploy to make sure she was taken care of; she just a burden to her father's memory; a person who Kakashi thought he had to care for?

"If this is some way just to make sure that I'm taken care of..." She began angrily, but was silenced when Kakashi roughly kissed her.

When he pulled back after a few moments, he held her shoulders with a vice-like grip and his eyes burned with an emotion Sakura never saw before - anger. He was anger with her.

"Don't you ever say that again, Sakura." His voice was smooth, cold steel. He held her eyes with his own severe ones, her heart pounding in uncertainly and a little fear, before he leaned his forehead against her own and sighed.

"I love you, Sakura." She gasped willing her tears to go away.

It was all too fast, and even if she loved him, admitted it herself and Ino, was she willing to let him know? She was still young and that made her scared for some reason. He was beautiful, the most attractive man she'd ever known, and everything she wanted. And yet she couldn't stop herself from running.

_Too fast_, her mind screamed. _Too fast._

She was ready for a relationship, but love and marriage? She loved him and was content to keep it that way, one-sided, but he admitted he loved her. She was defenseless and raw and confused. Ino would want to kick her ass for her thoughts.

Sakura buried her face into the crook of his neck while one of his arms circled around her waist as the other stroked her hair. "I don't know you and you don't know me."

His arms tightened around her and he laughed desperately. "Then marry me and we'll find out together, Sakura."

She smirked into his neck. "You won't give up, will you?"

"Never," he said kissing her ear and making her shiver. The butterflies in her stomach her multiplied, and Sakura was not sure if this feeling was of pure bliss or fear or maybe a bit of both. "You love me, don't you?" He asked quietly.

Sakura sighed squeezing her eyes shut. She couldn't lie to him about that, didn't want to lie to him. "I love you. I love you very much."

He kissed her again and when she looked at him her breath was taken away for the second time. Sakura would never forget that smile on his lips until the day she died. It made her melt on the inside and her eyes water in happiness. When he smiled at that precise moment, she knew that she would never want to spend her life with anyone but him. All fear vanished then leaving only bliss in its wake. That smile was all because of her, he would admit later.

"Marry me then." He said again, smiling.

Sakura laughed holding him close to herself. "Ask me another time, Hatake-san."

"Is that a yes?" He daringly asked.

"Take it as you like, Hatake-san."

He growled kissing her eye lids at the same time. "My name is Kakashi, little one."

"Hatake-san," she teased as he took her hand and pulled her off the bench with him so that they were standing face to face.

"I think we know each other well enough, little one. Call me Kakashi." He said inferring to the past moments of intimacy. Sakura blushed prettily.

"Don't you like your last name?" She asked as they walked together down the street.

She smiled with her hands behind her back and a skip in her walk. At the moment, she was so full of life and happiness that she couldn't help but tease a little reverting back to her childhood.

He stopped so that he could grab her from behind in a hug. To be fair to his personality, no one was on the street to see his stunt. "I would like it so much more after your first name, Sakura."

Sakura smiled furtively, her eyes peeking up to his face while a blush was on her own. "Goodbye, Hatake-san." Sakura smirked.

His fingers rose to touch her cheek, and without a thought he pulled her into a chaste kiss from behind. "Not yet, Sakura. I'm walking you back to your place whether you like it or not."

And Sakura found for once she couldn't argue.

**A/N:** So you are probably thinking, "What the hell kind of ending is that?" Well, there is an epilogue coming up so don't worry. As well, I think I was blushing from the amount of fluffiness I wrote in this chapter. It's probably really corny, so don't make fun of me. /laughs/ I would like to know what you think of this ending though, since it is kind of an ending. And about why Kakashi did not talk to Sakura in three days will be answered in the epilogue.

It's been fun, and I do hope I didn't go over with the corniness. I might as re-write so parts of this chapter. I don't know yet.

_Felix02_


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